Guide to South Carolina ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

South Carolina Information

South Carolina was the eighth state admitted to the United States on 23 May 1788. It was created from the Providence of South Carolina. It is located in the southeastern portion of the United States and consists of 46 counties. The capital of South Carolina is Columbia.
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Counties or Districts

To find South Carolina records, it helps to understanding the history of their counties and districts:

Early - Until the 1760s the predominant court was in Charleston. Parish and township records were kept, but records at counties not so much. Early counties were used more to describe locations than as record keeping jurisdictions.

1769 - Seven circuit court districts were established. Record keeping in district seats became more important. Parishes continued. All counties were abolished.

1785 - The seven overarching districts were sub-divided into three to six counties each. Provisional counties in several older southern districts never built courthouses, never functioned, and were counties in name only. The other newer northern districts were often settled by people accustomed to county government who eventually erected courthouses, and fully functioning counties. Some of the county names (or similar names) from this period were used for later counties with different county boundaries.

1791 - The 14 provisional counties within Charleston, Beaufort, and Orangeburg districts and several others were dissolved for failure to thrive. Two new districts with six counties inside those new districts were reorganized from parts of previous districts and counties in the far north.

1800 - All overarching districts were abolished. Three of the previous counties were abolished. Seven new counties were created and added to the other remaining counties. However, all South Carolina counties were also called districts until 1868.